Shortly after joining her uncle in Sequoia, Shirley had learned from
the Colonel the history of old man Cardigan and his Valley of the
Giants, or as the townspeople called it, Cardigan's Redwoods.
Therefore she was familiar with its importance to the assets of the
Laguna Grande Lumber Company, since, while that quarter-section
remained the property of John Cardigan, two thousand five hundred
acres of splendid timber owned by the former were rendered
inaccessible. Her uncle had explained to her that ultimately this
would mean the tying up of some two million dollars, and inasmuch as
the Colonel never figured less than five per cent. return on
anything, he was in this instance facing a net loss of one hundred
thousand dollars for each year obstinate John Cardigan persisted in
retaining that quarter-section.
"I'd gladly give him a hundred thousand for that miserable little dab
of timber and let him keep a couple of acres surrounding his wife's
grave, if the old fool would only listen to reason," the Colonel had
complained bitterly to her. "I've offered him that price a score of
times, and he tells me blandly the property isn't for sale. Well, he
who laughs last laughs best, and if I can't get that quarter-section
by paying more than ten times what it's worth in the open market,
I'll get it some other way, if it costs me a million.
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